Monday 26 February 2007 19.50 EST
First published on Monday 26 February 2007 19.50 EST

It is little wonder John Oster played with such freedom when he excelled against Manchester United in the FA Cup 10 days ago. Only a few weeks earlier the Reading winger had agreed a settlement with Mark Maley five years after he ended his former Sunderland team-mate's career in an accident with an air rifle. Oster would not use that backdrop as an excuse for his own stagnation but there can be little doubt that the incident weighed heavily on his mind.

The unsavoury episode is not alone on a CV that also includes an arrest on suspicion of assault following an incident outside a Durham night club and a loan spell at Leeds that was cut short after he was found guilty of misbehaving at the club's Christmas party. That crime sheet, though, sits uncomfortably with the affable 28-year-old who candidly discussed his "mistakes" ahead of tonight's fifth-round FA Cup replay against United at the Madejski Stadium.

"The air rifle was just a freak incident," says Oster. "We were larking about in my flat on a Sunday morning and I thought the safety catch was on when I pointed it at [Maley]. It went off and it hit him in the eye.

"It was strange to say the least because it didn't fire straight at the best of times. I thought he was messing about and then I realised his eye was bloodshot. I immediately phoned for an ambulance and we went straight to hospital.

"I haven't spoken to him for a while. I had a claim against me which has just gone through, so I have had to go through the process of using solicitors because he sued me; that had been going on for a few years. We settled out of court which we have just agreed. We were mates, it was a complete accident and he's not in any way bitter towards me, but the fact is that he had to finish his career because of me."

Oster's playing days might also have come to a premature end. Having been given a free transfer by Sunderland in 2005, he finished the season at Burnley but spent the summer waiting for the phone to ring. Without a club, he stayed with Don Hutchison, his former Everton team-mate, and began pre-season training at Millwall before Steve Coppell eventually came to his rescue.

Oster believes he might have taken a different path had he played under the Reading manager earlier in a career that promised so much but has delivered so little. He joined Everton from Grimsby at the age of 18 in 1997 for £1.5m but departed for Sunderland two years later with his potential unfulfilled. "Looking back, Everton was a massive club and I didn't really savour that time," says Oster. "You just don't appreciate it at such a young age.

"Going to Everton was a big thing for me. Moving away from home, living on your own in a house for the first time at 18 years of age in a place like Liverpool and left to get on with it at a club that was fighting against relegation at the time, was hard. You do get sidetracked, especially when you haven't got anyone around you. But I wouldn't put it all down to that. You have got to take responsibility for your own actions."

Older and wiser, the Wales international is now doing exactly that. He has made only three Premiership starts at Reading, but he has impressed whenever involved. His goal against Middlesbrough on Saturday was his first in the Premiership for nearly 10 years, and his display at Old Trafford a week earlier left observers talking about the player that might have been.

"There is always could-haves and maybes," says Oster. "I think my career has been stop-start a lot of the time and it's difficult when you're not playing on a regular basis. I think I'm playing well now. I'm coming on [as a substitute] and playing in the Cups which isn't ideal but I'm at a club that is doing well. It's not so good when you're at a club that isn't doing well and you're not playing. That's when you have got to look at yourself."

Introspection is something Oster ought to be familiar with. He knows he has been "silly" and "stupid" in the past but the visit of Sir Alex Ferguson's side this evening provides another opportunity to prove that it is on and not off the field where he is capable of making an impression. "It's been a while since I've done any misdemeanours," adds Oster. "We all learn from our mistakes and hopefully I've got no more mistakes to make now."

Federici just the ticket

Adam Federici is guaranteed tickets for the FA Cup final after he was named player of the fifth round but, little more than 12 months after he was on loan at Carshalton, the Australian is hopeful that he might be playing at Wembley. The Reading goalkeeper, who returns against Manchester United tonight, has been rewarded for his persistence. "I knocked on a lot of doors," said Federici, 22, who will sign a new contract this week. "I'm just a boy from a small town in Australia and not many people wanted to give me an opportunity. I came over at 17, had a trial at Bolton [and] at Blackburn. I wrote letters and turned up at clubs' doors. I only unpacked my suitcase last year when I got my first professional contract. That was the turning point for me. There were a lot of times when I wanted to throw the towel in."